1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card connector capable of selectively inserting into its inserting opening plural kinds of cards different in width, thickness and the like with respect to the inserting direction, for example, cards sold under the trademarks MEMORY-STICK, and MEMORY-STICK DUO.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with widespread use of small type electronic appliances and terminal units for recording and reproducing information, plural kinds of cards have been commercially available which are different in cross-sectional area with respect to the inserting direction. In use, these cards of the plural kinds are connected to connectors exclusive to the respective cards. In the case that these plural kinds of cards are selectively used for similar objects, for example, such as cards sold under the trademarks MEMORY-STICK and MEMORY-STICK DUO, it has been desired to commonly use one card connector for these cards as much as possible.
In order to comply with such a requirement, a card connector has been invented, which includes a housing formed with therein a first card receiving portion for receiving a first card, defined by a pair of first side walls for guiding side edges of the first card, and a second card receiving portion for receiving a second card, defined by a pair of second side walls for guiding side edges of the second card such that parts of the first and second card receiving portions are commonly used for respective cards as disclosed in Patent Literature 1, Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2001-223,044.
In the case that a card connector is commonly used for cards different in thickness and width, moreover, in order to preclude terminal edges of the cards from deviating from a determined position or the contact pad of a card from being shifted from contacts, a slider is slidably provided in a housing, and a plurality of first and second contacts are separately arranged in the housing with one set of the contacts above the other set of the contacts. When a thinner card is inserted, the card is caused to engage the slider so that the cross-sectional shape of the card with respect to the inserting direction can be converted correspondingly to the difference in cross-sectional shape and size such as thinner or thicker. Such a card connector was disclosed in Patent Literature 2, Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2004-206,963.
With a hitherto used card connector commonly used for cards different in thickness, width and the like, contact pads of the cards frequently do not coincide with positions of contacts, thereby resulting in failed contact therebetween. In order to preclude such a failed contact between the card and the contacts, the card connector commonly used for different cards described above is constructed in a manner that, for example, when a thicker card is inserted, the card is brought into contact with the first contacts provided at the upper portion of the inserting space, while when a thinner card is inserted, the card is brought into contact with the second contacts provided at the lower portion of the inserting space.
In the case that cards of different kinds are brought into contact with the separate contacts provided at the upper or the lower portions, respectively, in the above manner, it may be possible to ensure the contact between connector and cards. However, care must always be taken to ascertain whichever surface of the card should be on an upper side when it is inserted. If the card is being inserted with a surface oriented wrong, the insertion will be impeded, or damage will occur to the card or connector by the forced insertion of the card. Therefore, such a connector is quite inconvenient to users and its cost of fabrication goes up.